The central government on Monday awarded Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to six educational institutions: IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), BITS-Pilani, Manipal Academy of High Education and Reliance Foundation’s proposed Jio Institute.

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Updated: Jul 10, 2018, 09:49 IST

NEW DELHI: The central government on Monday awarded Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to six educational institutions: IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), BITS-Pilani, Manipal Academy of High Education and Reliance Foundation’s proposed Jio Institute.

Following criticism on social media on the inclusion of Jio Institute on the government's IOE list -- which is meant to create an enabling architecture for 10 public and 10 private institutions to emerge as world-class institutions --the ministry of Human Resources and Development (HRD) defended the move saying the institution was accorded the coveted tag under greenfield category for new or proposed institutions that are yet to come into existence.

The HRD ministry responded to criticism on social media by issuing a clarification about how the decision on IoE tag was taken. The ministry shared the list of the clarifications on twitter, "in response to some misinformation campaign in social media" regarding the IoE tag.

In response to some misinformation campaign in social media regarding "Institutes of Eminence", please find herewit… https://t.co/02RLLRZh5n

The ministry's detailed response made it clear that "clause 6.1 of the UGC (Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be Universities) Regulation 2017 provides for a new proposal to establish an institution to be considered under this project."

HRD ministry further said that the empowered expert committee (EEC) received 11 proposals under this provision but only Jio Institute clear the four parameters.

The parameters for setting up Greenfield institutions, as issued by HRD, are:

1. Availability of land for construction of the institution

2. Putting in place a core team with very high qualification and wide experience

Earlier on Monday, Jio Institute was trending on Twitter with many users tagging the HRD Minister, asking him about the institute's location and credentials.

"The Jio Institute is yet to be established but will already be marketed as a world class institution by the government. Can't we see the conflict of interest," JNU professor Ayesha Kidwai said.

A professor from IISc-Bangalore, which was also accorded the "Institute of Eminence" (IoE) tag, said, "How did Prakash Javdekar evaluate this Jio Institute to decide it was better than IIT M or IIT KGP or so many other Institutions? How can an Institution that is in the process of being set up be declared Institution of Eminence? What are we missing here?"

HRD minister Prakash Javdekar congratulated the three private institutes - Manipal University, BITS Pilani, and Jio Institute - on Twitter for being granted the status of 'Institute of Eminence'.

The UGC defended Jio Institute's inclusion on the grounds that it was selected under rules for greenfield institutions. According to officials, 11 such institutions had applied for the IoE tag and Jio was selected from among them.

Institutions of Eminence

The government granted "Institutions of Eminence" (IoEs) status to IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay and the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in the public sector, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, BITS Pilani and Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation in the private sector.

The 10 government institutions, in addition to the autonomy, will also get Rs 1,000 crore each from the HRD Ministry to achieve world-class status. The government has also made it clear that will offer no financial assistance to the private institutions under this scheme, though they will get autonomy to pursue academic excellence.

The move is part of a scheme of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to select 20 IoEs -- 10 public and 10 private -- that will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy.

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